


it is the night that I carry on my shoulders, and it is the night from which I cannot escape

by ahsokatanos



Category: Marvel
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, James "Bucky" Barnes - Freeform, Nightmares, Wanda Maximoff - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:59:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9689333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahsokatanos/pseuds/ahsokatanos
Summary: he does not think he can bear the nightmares any longer.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seductiveturnip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seductiveturnip/gifts), [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



It is not the nightmare that wakes him. The nightmares will never wake him. They ensnare him, trap him, suffocate him within their phantom faces and abusive hands and devilish voices and gleaming instruments that make him bleed. But they will never do something so merciful as to wake him up.

It is his own scream that yanks him from sleep. It is his own agonized whimpering for help that drag him from the horrible lull he always finds himself in, a lull between life and death, between being human and being a machine. And so his back leaves the sheets in a jolt of cold fright, blue eyes flying about his empty bedroom as his chest rises and falls with feverish breathing, the dream repeating itself behind his gaze over and over and over and it won't _stop_ , the hell won't _stop_ , and as he rakes his trembling fingers through his thick tresses of hair Bucky wishes savagely that someone would just do what everyone's been dying to do for so long and give him a pistol, because with one flinching movement he could make everyone's lives easier and he could _end this_ \--

"Bucky?" A voice so soft and concerned he thinks it must be an angel. But when he lifts his gaze, it is only Wanda.

To Bucky, this is a holier sight.

She stands in his doorway with eyes wide with concern and brows knit with emotion, and before he can tell her that he doesn't need her, that he's alright and he will fall back asleep eventually, she is at his side with pale hands like moonlight clutching his face and smearing the water from his cheeks, green eyes boring into his own with melting intent, imploring him without a word. Somehow, Bucky finds this more compelling.

"Please don't try to hide this from me. Please." A hand tugs at his hair, moves slowly about the nape of his neck. He is grateful that she is here. That he has her. Steve and the others are gone, sent away on an international assignment that the two of them were prohibited to take part in. They were made to stay in the compound. With the newfound . . . interests they had in one another, however, neither are too terribly incensed.

He is at first taken aback by her touch. These days, he is always tentative when anyone lays a hand on him. But soon Bucky remembers that Wanda is safe and Wanda is solidity and Wanda is _home_. So he curls his human arm about her waist and pulls her closer so that her chest is against his and his nose is in her hair and they can feel the other's heart beating within collapsed chests. And for many moments they sit there, Bucky's breathing haggard and frightened and weakened and he cannot seem to keep himself from shaking. But Wanda is muttering soft reassurances in his ear, fingers idly tracing along his bare back, over the ridge of his spine and this makes him shake even more. He begins to forget the murderous eyes that watch him in his sleep and listens to her voice as if it is a lifeline.

"Will you stay here with me?" He croaks.

She nods, resting her forehead against his. "As long as you need me."

It hits him, very suddenly, that he always will.

**Author's Note:**

> whoo that was a doozey. short but sweet lol. thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
